 | |
 Germany |  Japan |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of Germany,Tokyo | Embassy of Japan,Berlin |
| Envoy | |
| AmbassadorPetra Sigmund | AmbassadorHidenao Yanagi |
Germany–Japan relations (German:Deutsch-japanische Beziehungen;Japanese:日独関係,romanized: Nichidokukankei) are the current and historical relations between theFederal Republic of Germany andJapan. The diplomatic relations were officially established in 1861 with the first ambassadorial visit to Japan fromPrussia (which predated the formation of theGerman Empire in 1866/1870). Japan modernized rapidly after theMeiji Restoration of 1868, often using German models throughintense intellectual and cultural exchange. AfterJapan aligned itself with Britain in 1902, Germany and Japan became enemies inWorld War I. Japan declared war on theGerman Empire in 1914 and seized key German possessions inChina and thePacific.
In the 1930s, both countries adopted aggressive militaristic attitudes toward their respective regions. This led to a rapprochement and, eventually, a political andmilitary alliance that includedItaly known as theAxis powers. DuringWorld War II, however, the alliance was basically ceremonial due to the great distances between the Axis powers; for the most part, Japan and Germany fought separate wars, and eventually surrendered separately.
After the Second World War, the economies ofboth nations experienced rapid recoveries; bilateral relations, now focused on economic issues, were soon re-established. Today, Germany and Japan are some of thelargest economies in the world, and benefit greatly from many kinds of political, cultural, scientific and economic cooperation. Both nations are members of theG4 nations,G20 andWorld Trade Organization.
According to a late 2023 Bertelsmann Foundation Poll, the Germans view Japan overwhelmingly positively, and regard that nation as less a competitor and more a partner. The Japanese views of Germany are positive as well, with 97% viewing Germany positively and only 3% viewing Germany negatively.
Relations between Japan and Germany date from theTokugawa shogunate (1603–1868), when Germans in Dutch service arrived in Japan to work for theDutch East India Company (VOC). The first well-documented cases are those of the physiciansEngelbert Kaempfer (1651–1716) andPhilipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (1796–1866) in the 1690s and 1820s, respectively. Both accompanied the director of the Dutch trading post atDejima on the obligatory voyage toEdo to pay tribute to theshōgun. Siebold became the author ofNippon, Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan (Nippon, Archive for the Description of Japan), one of the most valuable sources of information on Japan well into the 20th century;[1] since 1979, his achievements have been recognised with an annual German award in his honour, thePhilipp Franz von Siebold-Preis, granted to Japanese scientists.[2] Von Siebold's second visit to Japan (1859–1862) became a disaster because he tried to influence Dutch politics in Japan and attempted to obtain a permanent post as a diplomat in that country.[3]
In 1854, the United States pressured Japan into theConvention of Kanagawa, which ended Japan's isolation. It was considered an "unequal treaty" by the Japanese public,[4] since the US did not reciprocate most of Japan's concessions with similar privileges. In many cases, Japan was effectively forced into a system of extraterritoriality that provided for the subjugation of foreign residents to the laws of their own consular courts instead of the Japanese law system, open up ports for trade, and later even allow Christian missionaries to enter the country. Shortly after the end of Japan's seclusion, in the so-calledBakumatsu period, the first German traders arrived in Japan. In 1860, CountFriedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg led theEulenburg Expedition to Japan as ambassador from Prussia, a leading regional state in theGerman Confederation at that time. After four months of negotiations, another "unequal treaty", officially dedicated to amity and commerce, was signed in January 1861 between Prussia and Japan.[5]
Despite being considered one of the numerous unjust negotiations pressed on Japan during that time, the Eulenburg Expedition, and both the short- and long-term consequences of the treaty of amity and commerce, are today honoured as the beginning of official Japanese-German relations. To commemorate its 150th anniversary, events were held in both Germany and Japan from autumn 2010 through autumn 2011 hoping "to 'raise the treasures of [their] common past' in order to build a bridge to the future."[6]
In 1863, three years after von Eulenburg's visit in Tokyo, a Shogunal legation arrived at the Prussian court of KingWilhelm I and was greeted with a grandiose ceremony in Berlin. After the treaty was signed,Max von Brandt became diplomatic representative in Japan – first representing Prussia, and after 1866 representing theNorth German Confederation, and by 1871 representing the newly establishedGerman Empire.[7]
In 1868, theTokugawa shogunate was overthrown and theEmpire of Japan underEmperor Meiji was established. With the return of power to theTennō dynasty, Japan demanded a revocation of the "unequal treaties" with the western powers and a civil war ensued. During the conflict, German weapons traderHenry Schnell counselled and supplied weapons to thedaimyō ofNagaoka, a land lord loyal to the Shogunate.[8] One year later, the war ended with the defeat of the Tokugawa and the renegotiation of the "unequal treaties".[9]
With the start of theMeiji period (1868–1912), many Germans came to work in Japan as advisors to the new government as so-called "oyatoi gaikokujin" (お雇い外国人, "hired foreigners") and contributed to the modernization of Japan, especially in the fields of medicine (Leopold Mueller, 1824–1894;Julius Scriba, 1848–1905;Erwin Bälz, 1849–1913), law (K. F.Hermann Roesler, 1834–1894;Albert Mosse, 1846–1925) and military affairs (K. W. Jacob Meckel, 1842–1906). Meckel had been invited by Japan's government in 1885 as an advisor to the Japanese general staff and as teacher at theArmy War College. He spent three years in Japan, working with influential persons (includingKatsura Tarō andKawakami Soroku), thereby decisively contributing to the modernization of theImperial Japanese Army. Meckel left behind a loyal group of Japanese admirers, who, after his death, had a bronze statue of him erected in front of his former army college in Tokyo.[10][11] Overall, the Imperial Japanese Army intensively oriented its organization along Prusso-German lines when building a modern fighting force during the 1880s.[12]
In 1889, the Constitution of the Empire of Japan was promulgated, greatly influenced by German legal scholarsRudolf von Gneist andLorenz von Stein, whom the Meiji oligarch and future Prime MinisterItō Hirobumi (1841–1909) visited in Berlin and Vienna in 1882. At the request of the German government, Albert Mosse also met with Hirobumi and his group of government officials and scholars and gave a series of lectures on constitutional law, which helped to convince Hirobumi that the Prussian-style monarchical constitution was best-suited for Japan. In 1886, Mosse was invited to Japan on a three-year contract as "hired foreigner" to the Japanese government to assist Hirobumi andInoue Kowashi in drafting theMeiji Constitution. He later worked on other important legal drafts, international agreements, and contracts and served as a cabinet advisor in theHome Ministry, assisting Prime MinisterYamagata Aritomo in establishing the draft laws and systems for local government.[13] Dozens of Japanese students and military officers also went to Germany in the late 19th century, to study the German military system and receive military training at German army educational facilities and within the ranks of the German, mostly the Prussian army. For example, later famous writer Mori Rintarô (Mori Ōgai), who originally was an army doctor, received tutoring in the German language between 1872 and 1874, which was the primary language for medical education at the time. From 1884 to 1888, Ōgai visited Germany and developed an interest in European literature producing the first translations of the works of Goethe, Schiller, andGerhart Hauptmann.[14]
At the end of the 19th century, Japanese–German relations cooled due to Germany's, and in general Europe's, imperialist aspirations in East Asia. After the conclusion of theFirst Sino-Japanese War in April 1895, theTreaty of Shimonoseki was signed, which included several territorial cessions from China to Japan, most importantly Taiwan and the eastern portion of the bay of theLiaodong Peninsula includingPort Arthur. However,Russia,France and Germany grew wary of an ever-expanding Japanese sphere of influence and wanted to take advantage of China's bad situation by expanding their own colonial possessions instead. The frictions culminated in the so-called "Triple Intervention" on 23 April 1895, when the three powers "urged" Japan to refrain from acquiring its awarded possessions on the Liaodong Peninsula.[15][16]
Another stress test for German–Japanese relations was theRusso-Japanese War of 1904/05, during which Germany strongly supported Russia. This circumstance triggered the Japanese foreign ministry to proclaim that any ship delivering coal to Russian vessels within the war zone would be sunk.[17] After the Russo-Japanese War, Germany insisted on reciprocity in the exchange of military officers and students, and in the following years, several German military officers were sent to Japan to study the Japanese military, which, after its victory over the tsarist army became a promising organization to study. However, Japan's growing power and influence also caused increased distrust on the German side.[15]
The onset of the First World War in Europe eventually showed how far German–Japanese relations had truly deteriorated. On 7 August 1914, only three days afterBritain declared war on the German Empire, the Japanese government received an official request from the British government for assistance in destroying the German raiders of theKaiserliche Marine in and around Chinese waters. Japan, eager to reduce the presence of European colonial powers in South-East Asia, especially on China's coast, sent Germany an ultimatum on 14 August 1914, which was left unanswered. Japan then formally declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914 thereby entering the First World War as an ally of Britain, France and Russia to seize the German-heldCaroline,Marshall, andMariana Islands in thePacific.[18]
The only major battle that took place between Japan and Germany was thesiege of the German-controlled Chinese port of Tsingtao inKiautschou Bay. The German forces held out from August until November 1914, under a total Japanese/British blockade, sustained artillery barrages and manpower odds of 6:1 – a fact that gave a morale boost during the siege as well as later in defeat. After Japanese troops stormed the city, the German dead were buried at Tsingtao and the remaining troops were transported to Japan where they were treated with respect at places like theBandō Prisoner of War camp.[19] In 1919, when Germany formally signed theTreaty of Versailles, all prisoners of war were set free and most returned to Europe.[20][21]
Japan was a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles, which stipulated harsh repercussions for Germany. In the Pacific, Japan gained Germany's islands north of the equator (the Marshall Islands, the Carolines, the Marianas, thePalau Islands) andKiautschou/Tsingtao in China.[22] Article 156 of the Treaty also transferred German concessions inShandong to Japan rather than returning sovereign authority to theRepublic of China, an issue soon to be known asShandong Problem. Chinese outrage over this provision led to demonstrations, and a cultural movement known as theMay Fourth Movement influenced China not to sign the treaty. China declared the end of its war against Germany in September 1919 and signed a separate treaty with Germany in 1921. This fact greatly contributed toGermany relying on China, and not Japan, as its strategic partner in East Asia for the coming years.[23]
After Germany had to cede most of its Pacific and Asian possessions to Japan and with an intensifyingSino-German cooperation, relations between Berlin and Tokyo were nearly dead. Under the initiative ofWilhelm Solf, who served as German ambassador to Japan from 1920 to 1928, cultural exchange was strengthened again. A cultural agreement was signed in 1926 that led to the re-establishment of the "German-Japanese Society" (1926), the founding of the "Japan Institute" in Berlin (1926), the establishment of the "Japanese-German Cultural Society" in Tokyo (1927), and later also the incorporation of the "Japanese-German Research Institute" in Kyoto (1934).[24][25] Both, France and Germany, were also very attractive for Japanese wanting to study abroad, as both countries kept their currencies undervalued in the 1920s.[26] As German universities were considered superior to their French counterparts, 80% of Japanese students going abroad thus chose Germany.[26] In fact, many of the men who emerged as leaders of the Pan-Asia movement in Japan in the 1930s studied at German universities in the 1920s, which led the Japanese historian Hotta Eri to note there was a strong German influence on the discourse of JapanesePan-Asianism.[26]
On 30 January 1933, the Nazi Party underAdolf Hitler assumed power in Germany, abolishing the democratic system of theWeimar Republic within the first two months of its reign. This political turning point proved to be far-reaching for the relations between Germany and Japan. In spring and again in fall of 1933, German-Japanese relations were damaged, when theSturmabteilung (SA), a para-military branch of the NSDAP, took to beating up Asians studying at German universities. Japanese and Chinese officials complained about "Yellow Peril" propaganda in German newspapers, reports of German plans to ban interracial relationships, and ongoing violence against Asian students all over the country. In October 1933, the Japanese government warned its nationals not to visit Germany, saying the country was unsafe for Asians to be in, and in November 1933, the Chinese government issued a similar warning to its citizens. German foreign minister and head of theAuswärtiges AmtKonstantin von Neurath persuaded Hitler to stop the SA violence against Asians, pointing out that Chinese head of stateChiang Kai-shek was threatening to expel the German military mission and replace it with a French one. In regards to Japan, Neurath noted it was advantageous to have so many scions of the Japanese elite studying at German universities, arguing that it was an incalculable advantage to Germany in the long run. At this time, however, Germany had much closer relations with China, which purchased an increasing amount of German arms and whoseNational Revolutionary Army received training by a German military mission.[27] Not only did this happen against Japanese objections, but it also caused the original complaints from China, and not those from Japan, to eventually motivate Berlin's change of attitude.[28]
In late 1933-early 1934, another strain was placed on German-Japanese relations when the new German ambassador to Japan and outspoken proponent of German-Japanese partnership,Herbert von Dirksen, backed the appointment of Ferdinand Heye, a member of the Nazi Party and disreputable businessman, the Special German Trade Commissioner for Japan's puppet stateManchukuo in northern China. Berlin's interaction with Manchukuo was delicate, as its official diplomatic recognition by Germany was sought after by Japan, but would greatly damage Sino-German relations. Hitler's interest to keep China as a partner for the time being became obvious, when he disavowed Heye, who had falsely promised German recognition of Manchukuo in order to monopolize German trading in the region under his name.[29] In the summer of 1935,Joachim von Ribbentrop, a German foreign policy official operating independently from theAuswärtiges Amt, together with his friend, the Japanese military attaché to Germany, GeneralHiroshi Ōshima, planned to relieve Germany of its China-or-Japan-dilemma by promoting an anti-Communist alliance that would unite all three countries together. However, theAuswärtiges Amt underKonstantin von Neurath vetoed this approach, as it deemed trade relations with China too important to be risked by a pact that Chiang Kai-shek was unlikely to join.[30]
Around the same time, von Rippentrop negotiated theAnglo-German Naval Agreement, which caused a temporary deterioration of German-Japanese relations when it was signed in June 1935. At the time, many Japanese politicians, including AdmiralIsoroku Yamamoto (who was an outspoken critic of an alliance with Nazi Germany), were shocked[31] by what was seen as Germany attempting to create an alliance with Great Britain. Nevertheless, the leaders of the military clique then in control in Tokyo concluded that it was a ruse designed to buy the Germans time to match theRoyal Navy. After all, Hitler had already laid down his plans inMein Kampf, in which he identified Britain as a potential ally but also defined Japan as a target of "international Jewry", and thus a nation which Germany could potentially form an alliance with:
It was not in the interests of Great Britain to have Germany annihilated, but primarily a Jewish interest. And to-day the destruction of Japan would serve British political interests less than it would serve the far-reaching intentions of those who are leading the movement that hopes to establish a Jewish world-empire.
— Adolf Hitler,Mein Kampf (volume 1)
Tokyo's military leaders proceeded to devise plans assuring the Empire's supply with resources by eventually creating a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". In general, further expansion was envisioned – either northwards, attacking the Soviet Union, a plan which was calledHokushin-ron, or by seizing French, Dutch and/or British colonies to the south, a concept dubbedNanshin-ron.[32] Hitler, on the other hand, never desisted from his plan to conquer new territories in Eastern Europe forLebensraum; thus, conflicts with Poland and later with the Soviet Union seemed inevitable.[33][34]
The first legal consolidation of German-Japanese mutual interests occurred in 1936, when the two countries signed theAnti-Comintern Pact, which was directed against theCommunist International (Comintern) in general and the Soviet Union in particular. After the signing, Nazi Germany's government also included the Japanese people in their concept of "honorary Aryans".[35]Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu then attended the 1937Nuremberg Rally in Germany and met Adolf Hitler, with whom he tried to boost personal relations.[36] Fascist Italy, led byBenito Mussolini joined the Anti-Comintern Pact the same year, thereby taking the first steps towards the formation of the so-called Axis betweenRome,Berlin, andTokyo.[37]: 353
Originally, Germany had a very close relationship with the Chinese nationalist government, even providing military aid and assistance to the Republic of China. Relations soured after the outbreak of theSecond Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, and when China shortly thereafter concluded theSino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviet Union. Notwithstanding the superior Sino-German economic relationship, Hitler concluded that Japan would be a more reliable geostrategic partner and chose to end his alliance with the Chinese as the price of gaining an alignment with the more modern and militarily powerful Japan.[38] In a May 1938 address to theReichstag, Hitler announced German recognition of Japan's puppet state Manchukuo and renounced the German claims to the former colonies in the Pacific now held by the Japanese Empire.[39] Hitler ordered the end of arm shipments to China, as well as the recall of all German officers attached to the Chinese Army.[39] Despite this move, however, Hitler retained his general perception of neither the Japanese nor the Chinese civilizations being inferior to the German one.[40]
The relations between Japan and Germany continued to grow closer during the late 1930s and several cultural exchanges took place, albeit motivated by political and propaganda reasons. A focus was put on youth exchanges, and numerous mutual visits were conducted; for instance, in late 1938, the shipGneisenau carried a delegation of 30 members of theHitler Youth to Tokyo for a study visit.[41] In 1938, representative measures for embracing the German-Japanese partnership were sought and the construction of a new Japanese embassy building in Berlin was started. After the preceding embassy had to give way to Hitler's andAlbert Speer's plans of re-modeling Berlin to the world capital city ofGermania, a new and more pompous building was erected in a newly established diplomatic district next to theTiergarten. It was conceived by Ludwig Moshamer under the supervision of Speer and was placed opposite the Italian embassy, thereby bestowing an architectural emphasis on the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis.[42][43]
Although tentative plans for a joint German-Japanese approach against the USSR were hinted on in the 1936 Anti-Comintern Pact, the years 1938 and 1939 were already decisive for Japan's decision to not expand northward (i.e., against the USSR) but to the south. The Empire decisively lost two border fights against the Soviets, theBattles of Lake Khasan andKhalkin Gol, thereby convincing itself that the Imperial Japanese Army, lacking heavy tanks and the like, would be in no position to challenge the Soviet Army at that time. Nevertheless, Hitler's anti-Soviet sentiment soon led to further rapprochements with Japan, since he still believed that Japan would join Germany in a future war against the Soviet Union, either actively by invading southeast Siberia, or passively by binding large parts of the Red Army, which was fearing an attack of Japan'sKwantung Army inManchukuo, numbering ca. 700,000 men as of the late 1930s.[32]
In contrast to his actual plans, Hitler's concept of stalling – in combination with his frustration with a Japan embroiled in seemingly endless negotiations with the United States, and tending against a war with the USSR[44] – led to a temporary cooperation with the Soviets in theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which was signed in August 1939. Neither Japan nor Italy had been informed beforehand of Germany's pact with the Soviets, demonstrating the constant subliminal mistrust between Nazi Germany and its partners. After all, the pact not only stipulated the division of Poland andBaltic states between both signatories in a secret protocol, but also rendered the Anti-Comintern Pact more or less irrelevant. In order to remove the strain that Hitler's move had put on German–Japanese relations, the "Agreement for Cultural Cooperation between Japan and Germany" was signed in November 1939, only a few weeks after Germany and the Soviet Union had concluded theirinvasion of Poland and Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.[45]
Over the following year, Japan also proceeded with its expansion plans. TheInvasion of northern French Indochina on 22 September 1940 (which by then was controlled by the collaborating government ofVichy France), and Japan'songoing bloody conflict with China, put a severe strain onJapan–United States relations. On 26 July 1940, the United States had passed theExport Control Act, cutting oil, iron and steel exports to Japan.[46] This containment policy was Washington's warning to Japan that any further military expansion would result in further sanctions. However, such US moves were interpreted by Japan's militaristic leaders as signals that they needed to take radical measures to improve the Empire's situation, thereby driving Japan closer to Germany.[47]
With Nazi Germany not only having conquered most of continental Europe including France, but also maintaining the impression of a Britain facing imminent defeat,[48] Tokyo interpreted the situation in Europe as proof of a fundamental and fatal weakness in western democracies. Japan's leadership concluded that the current state of affairs had to be exploited[44] and subsequently started to seek even closer cooperation with Berlin. Hitler, for his part, not only feared a lasting stalemate with Britain, but also had started planning an invasion of the Soviet Union. These circumstances, together with a shortage in raw materials and food,[49] increased Berlin's interest in a stronger alliance with Japan. German foreign ministerJoachim von Ribbentrop was sent to negotiate a new treaty with Japan, whose relationships with Germany and Italy, the three soon to be called "Axis powers", were cemented with theTripartite Pact of 27 September 1940.[50][51]
The purpose of the Pact, directed against an unnamed power presumed to be the United States, was to deter that power from supporting Britain, thereby not only strengthening Germany's and Italy's cause in theNorth African Campaign and theMediterranean theatre, but also weakening British colonies in South-East Asia in advance of a Japanese invasion. The treaty stated that the three countries would respect each other's "leadership" in their respective spheres of influence, and would assist each other if attacked by an outside party. However, already-ongoing conflicts, as of the signing of the Pact, were explicitly excluded. With this defensive terminology, aggression on the part of a member state toward a non-member state would result in no obligations under the Pact. These limitations can be interpreted as a symptom of the German-Japanese relations of that time being driven by mutual self-interest, underpinned by the shared militarist, expansionist and nationalistic ideologies of their respective governments.[52]
Another decisive limitation in the German-Japanese alliance were the fundamental differences between the two nation's policies towards Jews. With Nazi Germany's well-known attitude being extreme Antisemitism, Japan refrained from adopting any similar posture. On 31 December 1940, Japanese foreign ministerYōsuke Matsuoka, a strong proponent of the Tripartite Pact, told a group of Jewish businessmen:
I am the man responsible for the alliance with Hitler, but nowhere have I promised that we would carry out his anti-Semitic policies in Japan. This is not simply my personal opinion, it is theopinion of Japan, and I have no compunction about announcing it to the world.
— Yōsuke Matsuoka (31 December 1940)[53]
On a similar note, both countries would continue to conceal any war crimes committed by the other side for the remainder of the war.The Holocaust was systematically concealed by the leadership in Tokyo, just asJapanese war crimes, e.g. the situation in China, were kept secret from the German public.[54] An example would be theatrocities committed by the Japanese Army in Nanking in 1937, which were denounced by German industrialistJohn Rabe. Subsequently, the German leadership ordered Rabe back to Berlin, confiscating all his reports and prohibiting any further discussion of the topic.[55]
Nevertheless, after the signing of the Tripartite Pact, mutual visits of political and military nature increased. After German ace and parachute expertErnst Udet visited Japan in 1939 to inspect the Japanese aerial forces, reporting toHermann Göring that "Japanese flyers, though brave and willing, are no sky-beaters", GeneralTomoyuki Yamashita was given the job of reorganizing the Japanese Air Arm in late 1940. For this purpose, Yamashita arrived in Berlin in January 1941, staying almost six months. He inspected the brokenMaginot Line and German fortifications on the French coast, watched German flyers in training, and even flew in araid over Britain after decoratingHermann Göring, head of the German Luftwaffe, with the Japanese "Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun". General Yamashita also met and talked with Hitler, on whom he commented,
I felt, that in the mind of Hitler there was much of spiritual matters, transcending material plans. When I met the Führer he said that since boyhood he had been attracted by Japan. He read carefully reports ofJapan's victory over Russia when he was only 17 years old and was impressed by Japan's astonishing strength.
— Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita (1940)[56]
According to Yamashita, Hitler promised to remember Japan in his will, by instructing the Germans "to bind themselves eternally to the Japanese spirit."[56]
On 11 November 1940, German–Japanese relations, as well as Japan's plans to expand southwards into South-East Asia, were decisively bolstered when the crew of theGerman auxiliary cruiserAtlantis boarded the British cargo shipSS Automedon. Fifteen bags ofTop Secret mail for theBritish Far East Command were found, including naval intelligence reports containing the latest assessment of the Japanese Empire's military strength in the Far East, along with details ofRoyal Air Force units, naval strength, and notes on Singapore's defences. It painted a gloomy picture of British land and naval capabilities in the Far East, and declared that Britain was too weak to risk war with Japan. The mail reached the German embassy in Tokyo on 5 December, and was then hand-carried to Berlin via theTrans-Siberian Railway. On the initiative of the German naval attachéPaul Wenneker, a copy was given to the Japanese; it provided valuable intelligence prior to theircommencing hostilities against the Western Powers. The captain of theAtlantis,Bernhard Rogge, was rewarded for this with an ornatekatanaSamurai sword; the only other Germans honored in this manner were Hermann Göring and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.[57]
After reading the captured documents, on 7 January 1941 JapaneseAdmiral Yamamoto wrote to the Naval Minister asking whether, if Japan knocked out America, the remaining British and Dutch forces would be suitably weakened for the Japanese to deliver a deathblow. Thereby,Nanshin-ron, the concept of the Japanese Navy conducting a southern campaign quickly matured and gained further proponents.[58][59]
Hitler, on the other hand, was concluding the preparations for "Operation Barbarossa", the invasion of the Soviet Union. In order to directly or indirectly support his imminent eastward strike, the Führer had repeatedly suggested to Japan that it reconsider plans for an attack on the Soviet Far East throughout 1940 and 1941. In February 1941, as a result of Hitler's insistence, General Oshima returned to Berlin as ambassador. On 5 March 1941,Wilhelm Keitel, chief ofOKW issued "Basic Order Number 24 regarding Collaboration with Japan":
- It must be the aim of the collaboration based on the Three Power Pact to induce Japan, as soon as possible,to take active measures in the Far East. Strong British forces will thereby be tied down, and the center of gravity of the interests of the United States of America will be diverted to the Pacific. The sooner she intervenes, the greater will be the prospects of success for Japan in view of the still undeveloped preparedness for war on the part of her adversaries. The Barbarossa operation will create particularly favorable political and military prerequisites for this.
- To prepare the way for the collaboration it is essential to strengthen the Japanese military potential with all means available. For this purpose the High Commands of the branches of the Armed Forces will comply in a comprehensive and generous manner with Japanese desires for information regarding German war and combat experience, and for assistance in military economics and in technical matters. Reciprocity is desirable, but this factor should not stand in the way of negotiations. Priority should naturally be given to those Japanese requests which would have the most immediate application in waging war. In special cases the Führer reserves the decisions for himself.
- The harmonizing of the operational plans of the two parties is the responsibility of the Naval High Command. This will be subject to the following guiding principles:
- The common aim of the conduct of war is to be stressed as forcing England to the ground quickly and thereby keeping the United States out of the war. Beyond this Germany has no political, military, or economic interests in the Far East which would give occasion for any reservations with regard to Japanese intentions.
- The great successes achieved by Germany in mercantile warfare make it appear particularly suitable to employ strong Japanese forces for the same purpose. In this connection every opportunity to support German mercantile warfare must be exploited.
- The raw material situation of the pact powers demands that Japan should acquire possession of those territories which it needs for the continuation of the war, especially if the United States intervenes. Rubber shipments must be carried out even after the entry of Japan into the war, since they are of vital importance to Germany.
- The seizure ofSingapore as the key British position in the Far East would mean a decisive success for the entire conduct of war of the three powers. In addition, attacks on other systems of bases of British naval power – extending to those of American naval power only if the entry of the United States into the war cannot be prevented – will result in weakening the enemy's system of power in that region and also, just like the attack on sea communications, in tying down substantial forces of all kinds (e.g.Australia). A date for the beginning of operational discussions cannot yet be fixed.
- In the military commissions to be formed in accordance with the Tripartite Pact, only such questions are to be dealt with as equally concern the three participating powers. These will include primarily the problems of economic warfare. The working out of the details is the responsibility of the main commission, with the co-operation of the Armed Forces High Command.
- The Japanese must not be given any intimation of the Barbarossa operations.[60]
On 18 March 1941, at a conference attended by Hitler,Alfred Jodl,Wilhelm Keitel andErich Raeder, Admiral Raeder stated:
Japan must take steps to seize Singapore as soon as possible, since the opportunity will never again be as favorable (tie-up of the whole English fleet; unpreparedness of U.S.A. for war against Japan; inferiority of theUnited States Pacific Fleet in comparison withthe Japanese). Japan is indeed making preparations for this action; but according to all declarations made by Japanese officers, she will only carry it out if Germany proceeds toland in England. Germany must, therefore, concentrate all her efforts on spurring Japan to act immediately. If Japan has Singapore, all other East Asiatic questions regarding the U.S.A. and England are thereby solved (Guam, Philippines,Borneo,Dutch East Indies). Japan wishes, if possible, to avoid war against the U.S.A. She can do so if she determinedly takes Singapore as soon as possible.
— Adm. Erich Reader (18 March 1941)[61]
In talks involving Hitler, his foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, his Japanese counterpart at that time,Yōsuke Matsuoka, as well as Berlin's and Tokyo's respective ambassadors,Eugen Ott andHiroshi Ōshima, the German side then broadly hinted at, but never openly asked for, either invading theSoviet Union from the east or attacking Britain's colonies in South-East Asia, thereby preoccupying and diverting the British Empire away from Europe and thus somewhat covering Germany's back.[32] Although Germany would have clearly favored Japan's attacking the USSR, exchanges between the two allies were always kept overly formal and indirect, as shown in the following statement by Hitler to ambassador Ōshima (2 June 1941):
It would, of course, be up to Japan to act as it saw fit, but Japan's cooperation in the fight against the Soviet Union would be welcomed if the [Japanese] advance to the south should run into difficulty because of supply and equipment.
— Adolf Hitler to Ambassador Oshima (2 June 1941)[47]
Matsuoka, Ōshima and parts of theJapanese Imperial Army were proponents ofHokushin-ron, Japan's go-north strategy aiming for a coordinated attack with Germany against the USSR and seizing East Siberia. But the Japanese army-dominated military leadership, namely persons likeminister of warHideki Tōjō, were constantly pressured by theJapanese Imperial Navy and, thus, a strong tendency towardsNanshin-ron existed already in 1940, meaning to go south and exploit the weakened European powers by occupying their resource-rich colonies in South-East Asia. In order to secure Japan's back while expanding southwards and as a Soviet effort to demonstrate peaceful intentions toward Germany,[62] theSoviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed in Moscow on 13 April 1941 by Matsuoka on his return trip from a visit to Berlin.Joseph Stalin had little faith in Japan's commitment to neutrality, but he felt that the pact was important for its political symbolism, to reinforce a public affection for Germany.[63] Hitler, who was not informed in advance by the Japanese and considering the pact a ruse to stall, misinterpreted the diplomatic situation and thought that his attack on the USSR would bring a tremendous relief for Japan in East Asia and thereby a much stronger threat to American activities through Japanese interventions.[44] As a consequence, Nazi Germany pressed forward with Operation Barbarossa, its attack on the Soviet Union, which started two months later on 22 June without any specific warning to its Axis partners.[64]: 57
From Japan's point of view, the attack on Russia very nearly ruptured the Tripartite Pact, since the Empire had been depending on Germany to help in maintaining good relations with Moscow so as to preclude any threat from Siberia. Prime MinisterFumimaro Konoe felt betrayed because the Germans clearly trusted their Axis allies too little to warn them about Barbarossa, even though he had feared the worst since receiving an April report from Ōshima in Berlin that "a Soviet-German war might break out in the near future".[65]: 556 Foreign minister Matsuoka on the other hand earnestly tried to convince the Emperor, the cabinet, as well as the army staff of the imminent attack on the Soviet Union. However, his colleagues—regarding him as "Hitler's office boy" by now—rejected any such proposal and pointed out the fact that the Japanese army,with its light and medium tanks, had no intention of taking onSoviet tanks and aircraft until they could be certain that theWehrmacht had smashed the Red Army to the brink of defeat.[66]
Subsequently, Konoe removed Matsuoka from his cabinet and stepped up Japan's negotiations with the US again, which still failed over the China and Indochina issues, however, and the American demand to Japan to withdraw from the Tripartite Pact in anticipation of any settlement. Without any perspective with respect to Washington, Matsuoka felt that his government had to reassure Germany of its loyalty to the pact. In Berlin, Ōshima was ordered to convey to the German foreign minister Ribbentrop that the "Japanese government have decided to secure 'points d'appui' in French Indochina [i.e., also occupy its southern half] to enable further to strengthen her pressure on Great Britain and the United States of America", and to present this as a "valuable contribution to the common front" by promising that "We Japanese are not going to sit on the fence while you Germans fight the Russians."[44]
Over the first months, Germany's advances in Soviet Russia were spectacular and Stalin's need to transfer troops currently protecting South-East Siberia from apotential Japanese attack to thefuture defense of Moscow grew. Japan'sKwantung Army in Manchukuo was constantly kept in manoeuvres and, in talks with German foreign minister Ribbentrop, ambassador Oshima in Berlin repeatedly hinted at an "imminent Japanese attack" against the USSR. In fact, however, the leadership in Tokyo at this time had in no way changed its mind and these actions were merely concerted to create the illusion of an eastern threat to the Soviet Union in an effort to bind its Siberian divisions.[67] Unknown to Japan and Germany, however,Richard Sorge, a Soviet spy disguised as a German journalist working for Eugen Ott, the German ambassador in Tokyo, advised the Red Army on 14 September 1941, that the Japanese were not going to attack the Soviet Union until:
Toward the end of September 1941, Sorge transmitted information that Japan would not initiate hostilities against the USSR in the East, thereby freeing Red Army divisions stationed in Siberia for the defence of Moscow. In October 1941 Sorge was unmasked and arrested by the Japanese. Apparently, he was entirely trusted by the German ambassador Eugen Ott, and was allowed access to top secret cables from Berlin in the embassy in Tokyo. Eventually, this involvement would lead toHeinrich Georg Stahmer replacing Ott in January 1943. Sorge on the other hand would be executed in November 1944 and elevated to a national hero in the Soviet Union.[69]
In September 1941, Japan began its southward expansion by expanding its military presence to southern Indochina ("securing 'points d'appui'"[44]) and decisively increased the number of stationed personnel and planes. This provoked the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Western governments to freeze Japanese assets, while the US (which supplied 80 percent of Japan's oil[70]) responded by placing a complete oil embargo on the Japanese Empire.[71] As a result, Japan was essentially forced to choose between abandoning its ambitions in South-East Asia and its prosecution of the war against China, or seizing the natural resources it needed by force. The Japanese military did not consider the former an option as attacking Soviet Russia instead of expanding into South Asia had become a more and more unpopular choice since Japan's humiliating defeat in 1939 at theBattle of Khalkin Gol against GeneralGeorgy Zhukov amongst others and the final rejection of any near-term action in Siberia shortly after Germany began its invasion of the USSR. Moreover, many officers considered America's oil embargo an unspoken declaration of war.[72] With the harsh oil sanctions imposed by the United States, the Japanese leadership was now even more determined to remain in China. Germany had refused to sell Japan the blueprints to makesynthetic fuel, so Japan's only hope for oil was to invade theDutch East Indies, which would result in war with the United States and Britain. To succeed the Japanese had to neutralize the powerfulUnited States Pacific Fleet, so they could prevent it from interfering with future Japanese movements in South-East Asia and negotiate peace terms from a strong hand.[73] Hitler and Ribbentrop agreed that Germany would almost certainly declare war when the Japanese first informed them of their intention to go to war with the United States on 17 November 1941.[74]
On 25 November 1941, Germany tried to further solidify the alliance against Soviet Russia by officially reviving the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936, now joined by additional signatories,Hungary andRomania.[75] However, for several reasons including logistics and Soviet defenses being reinforced by East Siberian divisions,Germany's offensive on Moscow ground to a halt with the onset of the Russian winter in November and December 1941. In the face of his failingBlitzkrieg tactics, Hitler's confidence in a successful and swift conclusion of the war diminished, especially with a US-supported Britain being a constant threat in the Reich's western front. Furthermore, it was evident that the "neutrality" which the US had superficially maintained to that point would soon change to an open and unlimited support of Britain against Germany. Hitler thus welcomed Japan's sudden entry into the war with itsair raid on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and its subsequentdeclaration of war on the United States and Britain, just two days after the Soviet Union started to push the Germans away from Moscow with a successful counter-offensive led by General Zhukov, who had already defeated the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol in 1939. Upon learning of Japan's successful attack, Hitler even became euphoric, stating: "With such a capable ally we cannot lose this war."[76] Preceding Japan's attack were numerous communiqués between Berlin and Tokyo. The respective ambassadors Ott and Ōshima tried to draft an amendment to the Tripartite Pact, in which Germany, Japan and Italy should pledge each other's allegiance in the case one signatory is attacked by – or attacks – the United States. Although the protocol was finished in time, it would not be formally signed by Germany until four days after the raid on Pearl Harbor. Also among the communiqués was another definitive Japanese rejection of any war plans against Russia:
In case Germany demands that we participate in the war against the Soviet Union, we will respond that we do not intend to join the war for the time being. If this should lead to a situation whereby Germany will delay her entry into the war against the United States, it cannot be helped.
— Japanese communiqué to Berlin (December 1941)[47]
Nevertheless, publicly the German leadership applauded their new ally[77] and ambassador Ōshima became one of only eight recipients of theGrand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle in Gold, which was awarded by Hitler himself, who reportedly said:
You gave the right declaration of war. This method is the only proper one. Japan pursued it formerly and it corresponds with his own system, that is, to negotiate as long as possible. But if one sees that the other is interested only in putting one off, in shaming and humiliating one, and is not willing to come to an agreement, then one should strike as hard as possible, and not waste time declaring war.
— Adolf Hitler about the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor (December 1941)[78]
Although the amendment to the Tripartite Pact was not yet in force, Hitler chose to declare war on the United States and ordered theReichstag, along with Italy, to do so on 11 December 1941, three days after theUnited States' declaration of war on theEmpire of Japan. Roosevelt's "shoot on sight" order had effectively declared naval war on Germany and Italy in September 1941,[79] and Germany had learned ofRainbow Five in early December.[80] Hitler could no longer ignore the amount of economic and military aid the US was giving Britain and the USSR.[81] Hitler's hopes that, despite the previous rejections, Japan would reciprocally attack the Soviet Union, were not realized, as Japan stuck to its Nanshin strategy of going south, not north, and would continue to maintain an uneasy peace with the Soviet Union.[82] Nevertheless, Germany'sdeclaration of war further solidified German–Japanese relations and showed Germany's solidarity with Japan, which was now encouraged to cooperate against the British. To some degree, Japan's actions in South-East Asia and the Pacific in the months after Pearl Harbor, including thesinking of HMSPrince of Wales and HMSRepulse, theoccupation of the Crown Colonies of Singapore,Hong Kong, andBritish Burma, and the raidsin the Indian Ocean as well ason Australia, were a tremendous blow to the United Kingdom's war effort and preoccupied the Allies, shifting British (including Australian) and American assets away from theBattle of the Atlantic and theNorth African Campaign against Germany to Asia and the Pacific against Japan. In this context, sizeable forces of the British Empire were withdrawn from North Africa to the Pacific theatre with their replacements being only relatively inexperienced and thinly spread divisions. Taking advantage of this situation,Erwin Rommel'sAfrika Korps successfully attacked only six weeks after Pearl Harbor, eventually pushing the allied linesas far east as El Alamein.[83]
Until the attack on the Soviet Union, Germany and Japan were able to exchange materials and personnel using theTrans-Siberian Railway. Afterwards,IJN submarines had to be sent on so-calledYanagi (Willow) – missions,[84] since the American and British navies rendered the high seas too dangerous for Axis surface cargo ships. However, given the limited capacities of submarines, eyes were soon focused directly on theMediterranean, the Middle East andBritish India, all vital to the British war effort. In the long run, Germany and Japan envisioned a partnered linkage running across the British-heldIndian subcontinent that would allow for the transfer of weaponry and resources as well as potential joint military operations. After all, the choice of potential trading partners was very limited during the war and Germany was anxious forrubber and precious metals, while the Japanese sought industrial products, technical equipment, and chemical goods.[35] By August 1942 the German advances in North Africa rendered an offensive againstAlexandria and theSuez Canal feasible, which, in turn, had the potential of enabling maritime trade between Europe and Japan through the Indian Ocean. On the other hand, in the face of its defeat at theBattle of Midway in June 1942 with the loss of four aircraft carriers, the Japanese Navy decided to pursue all possibilities of gaining additional resources to quickly rebuild its forces. As a consequence, Ambassador Ōshima in Berlin was ordered to submit an extensive "wish list" requesting the purchase of vast amounts of steel and aluminium to be shipped from Germany to Japan. German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop quickly dismissed Tokyo's proposal, since those resources were vital for Germany's own industry. However, in order to gain Japanese backing for a new German-Japanese trade treaty, which should also secure the rights of German companies in South-East Asia, he asked Hitler to at least partially agree upon the Japanese demands. It took another five months of arguing over theReichsmark-Yen-exchange rate and additional talks with the third signatory, the Italian government, until the "Treaty on Economic Cooperation" was signed on 20 January 1943.[67]
Despite this treaty, the envisioned German-Japanese economic relations were never able to grow beyond mostly propagandistic status.[85] The British kept control of the Suez Canal and submarines with very small cargo capability remained the main method of contact.[85]With the loss of North Africa and the heavy defeat at Stalingrad, Germany was in a defensive posture by early 1943, and never regained the initiative.[86]
Japan was being outproduced in carriers and was unable to launch any offensives after its defeat at Midway in June 1942.[87]: 390–391 It was overextended and could not even feed its garrisons on islands across the Pacific.[88] Tokyo's plan ofconquering the Solomons at Australia's doorstep turned into a continuous retreat for the Japanese of which thedefeat on Guadalcanal in early 1943 marked the beginning.[88] Japan's invasion of Indiahad been halted at Imphal and Kohima, rendering impossible any joint operations against India.[89]
With submarines remaining practically the only link between Nazi-controlled Europe and Japan, trade was soon focused on strategic goods such as technical plans and weapon templates. Only 20–40% of goods managed to reach either destination and merely 96 persons travelled by submarine from Europe to Japan and 89 vice versa during the war as only six submarines succeeded in their attempts of the trans-oceanic voyage:I-30 (August 1942), delivering drawings and examples of thetorpedo bomber-deployed, aerialType 91 torpedo used in theAttack on Pearl Harbor,[90]I-8 (June 1943),I-34 (October 1943),I-29 (December 1943),I-52 (March 1944), and theGerman submarine U-511 (August 1943). BeforeI-29 embarked on her voyage to German-occupied France in December 1943, she had rendezvoused with theGerman submarine U-180 during an earlier mission to the Indian Ocean. During this meeting on 28 April 1943,Indian nationalistSubhas Chandra Bose transferred toI-29, thereby becoming the only civilian exchange between two submarines of two different navies in World War II.[91][92]U-234 on the other hand is one of the most popular examples of an aborted Yanagi mission in May 1945.[84] Amongst others, her cargo included examples of the newest electric torpedoes, one cratedMe 262 jet aircraft, aHenschel Hs 293 glide bomb, and 560 kg ofuranium oxide. Whether the uranium was weapons-grade material has not yet been clarified, however.[93][94]
On rare occasions, German surface ships were able to reach Japan as well. These included auxiliary cruisersMichel andThor, which were brought toYokohama after theKriegsmarine chiefs realized in late 1942 that it would not be practical for them to return to Germany-controlled European ports.[95]German supply ships (Uckermark) and foreign ships captured by German merchant raiders would come to Japanese ports as well.[96][97]
In the face of their failing war plans, Japanese and German representatives more and more began to deceive each other at tactical briefings by exaggerating minor victories and deemphasizing losses. In several talks in spring and summer 1943 betweenGeneraloberstAlfred Jodl and the Japanesenaval attaché in Berlin,Vice AdmiralNaokuni Nomura, Jodl downplayed the afore described defeats of the German Army, e.g. by claiming the Soviet offensive would soon run out of steam and that "anywhere the Wehrmacht can be sent on land, it is sure of its untertaking, but where it has to be taken over sea, it becomes somewhat more difficult."[98] Japan, on the other hand, not only evaded any disclosure of its true strategic position in the Pacific, but also declined any interference in American shipments being unloaded atVladivostok and large numbers of men and amounts of material being transported from East Siberia to the German front in the west. Being forced to watch the continued reinforcement of Soviet troops from the east without any Japanese intervention was a thorn in Hitler's flesh, especially considering Japan's apparent ignorance with respect to the recentCasablanca Conference at which the Allies declared only to accept the unconditional surrenders of the Axis nations. During a private briefing on 5 March 1943, Hitler remarked:
They lie right to your face and in the end all their depictions are calculated on something which turns out to be a deceit afterwards!
— Adolf Hitler about the Japanese (5 March 1943)[99]
As the war progressed and Germany began to retreat further, Japanese ambassador Ōshima never wavered in his confidence that Germany would emerge victorious. However, in March 1945 he reported to Tokyo on the "danger ofBerlin becoming a battlefield" and revealing a fear "that the abandonment of Berlin may take place another month". On 13 April, he met with Ribbentrop – for the last time, it turned out – and vowed to stand with the leaders of the Third Reich in their hour of crisis but had to leave Berlin at once by Hitler's direct order.[100] On 7 and 8 May 1945, as theGerman government surrendered to the Allied powers, Ōshima and his staff were taken into custody and brought to the United States. Now fighting an even more hopeless war, the Japanese government immediately denounced the German surrender as an act of treason and interned the few German individuals as well as confiscated all German property (such as submarines) in Japanese territory at the time.[54] Four months later, on 2 September, Japan had to signits own surrender documents.[101]
After the Second World War was officially concluded with the capitulation of the Empire of Japan, plans for trying the major German and Japanese war criminals were quickly implemented in 1946. While Japanese officials had to face theTokyo Trials, major German war crimes were dealt with at theNuremberg Trials. Here it was the goal of the Allied prosecutors to portray the limited cooperation between the Third Reich and Imperial Japan as a long-planned conspiracy to divide the world among the two Axis-partners and thereby delivering just another demonstration of the common viciousness expressed by alleged joint long-term war plans.[102]
The Nazi plans of aggression called for use of Asiatic allies and they found among the Japanese men of kindred mind and purpose. They were brothers, under the skin.
— Robert H. Jackson, American chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials 1945/46[102]
Although there was a limited and cautious military cooperation between Japan and Germany during the Second World War, no documents corroborating any long-term planning or real coordination of military operations of both powers exist.[103]
After their defeat in World War II, both Japan and Germany were occupied. Japan regained its sovereignty with theTreaty of San Francisco in 1952 and joined the United Nations in 1956. Germany was split into two states. It was agreed in 1951 to take up diplomatic relations between Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).[104] The bilateral diplomatic ties between West Germany and Japan were fully restored in 1955, betweenEast Germany and Japan in 1973, the year both German states became UN-members.[105]
Beginning in the 1950s, Japanese companies sought to acquire needed raw materials like steel and chemical products in the West GermanRuhr region, with a small Japanese business community inDüsseldorf.[106] In 1969, Japanese Culture Institute opened inCologne which became a part ofJapan Foundation in 1972. This Institute has a library and cinema and also offers a Japanese language course. In 1985, Japanese German center also opened inBerlin at locality ofDahlem due to suggestion between both country leadersHelmut Kohl andNakasone Yasuhiro. In 1974, West Germany and Japan signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in science and technology, re-intensifying joint scientific endeavours and technological exchange. The accord resulted in numerous projects, generally focused on marine research and geosciences, life sciences and environmental research. Additionally, youth exchange programs were launched, including a "Youth Summit" held annually since 1974.[107]
West German-Japanese political dealings were enlarged with both countries taking part in the creation of the so-calledGroup of Six, or simply "G6", together with the US, the UK, France and Italy in 1975 as a response to the1973 oil crisis. The G6 was soon expanded by Canada and later Russia, with G6-, G7-, and later G8-, summits being held annually since then.[108] In the 1980s, West German and Japanese representatives decided to rebuild the old Japanese embassy in Berlin.[109][110] The Japanese embassy in Berlin had been constructed between 1938 and 1942 under the oversight ofAlbert Speer. Badly damaged during World War II the former embassy was rebuilt as Japanese Cultural Centre, but reverted to being the Japanese Embassy in the German capital city after the fall of the Berlin Wall.[111] In addition to the original complex, several changes and additions were made until 2000, like moving the main entrance to the Hiroshima Street, which was named in honour of the Japanese city, and the creation of a traditionalJapanese Garden.[112][113]
Over the following years, institutions, such as in 1985 the "Japanese–German Center" (JDZB) in Berlin[114] and in 1988 theGerman Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) in Tokyo,[115] were founded to further contribute to the academic and scientific exchange between Japan and West Germany.[115][116]
Post-war relations between Japan and both Germanies, as well as with unified Germany since 1990, have generally focused on economic and business questions. Germany, dedicated to free trade, continues to be Japan's largest trading partner within Europe. This general posture is also reflected in the so-called "7 pillars of cooperation" agreed on by Foreign Minister of JapanYōhei Kōno and Foreign Minister of GermanyJoschka Fischer on 30 October 2000:[117]
In 2000, bilateral cultural exchange culminated in the "Japan in Germany" year, which was then followed by the "Germany in Japan" year in 2005/2006.[118] Also in 2005, the annual German Film Festival in Tokyo was brought into being.[119]
In 2004, German ChancellorGerhard Schröder and Japanese Prime MinisterJunichiro Koizumi agreed upon cooperations in the assistance for reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan,[120][121] the promotion of economic exchange activities,[122] youth and sports exchanges[123] as well as exchanges and cooperation in science, technology and academic fields.[124]
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In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Germany and Japan, being the United Nations' second and third largest funders respectively, demanded areform of the United Nations Security Council and an increase of the number of its permanent members. For this purpose both nations organized themselves together with Brazil and India to form the so-called "G4 nations". On 21 September 2004, the G4 issued a joint statement mutually backing each other's claim to permanent seats, together with two African countries. This proposal has found opposition in a group of countries calledUniting for Consensus. In January 2006, Japan announced that it would not support putting the G4 resolution back on the table and was working on a resolution of its own.[125]
Certain inefficiencies with respect to the bilateral cooperation between Germany and Japan were also reflected in 2005, when former Japanese Prime MinisterKiichi Miyazawa wrote in a commemoration to the 20th anniversary of the Japanese-German Center in Berlin that
the German-Japanese relations are generally good and there are no particular bilateral problems. This results in a certain indifference, which may be considered a problem by now.
— PM Kiichi Miyazawa (2005)[126]
Nevertheless, as of 2008, Japan still was Germany's second largest trading partner in Asia after China.[127] In 2017, German imports from Japan totaled $18 billion and German exports to Japan $23 billion.[128] In 2008, however, Japanese exports and imports to and from the European Union fell by 7.8% and 4.8% after growing by 5.8% in 2007 due to the2008 financial crisis. Bilateral trade between Germany and Japan also shrank in 2008, with imports from Japan having dropped by 6.6% and German exports to Japan having declined by 5.5%. Despite Japan having remained Germany's principal trading partner in Asia after China in 2008, measured in terms of total German foreign trade, Japan's share of both exports and imports is relatively low and falls well short of the potential between the world's third- and fifth-largest economies.[107]
In 2013, the top three imported cars sold in Japan are all German cars:Volkswagen,Mercedes-Benz, andBMW.[129] In Germany, the market share of Japanese cars such asMazda,Toyota,Honda, andNissan is 8.6%.[130]
Unaffected by any stagnating German-Japanese trade relations, theJapanese community in Düsseldorf, home to Europe's largestJapantown, is growing again after a decline in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2008, over 8000 Japanese lived in the Düsseldorf area, which features a Japanese school, two kindergartens, three libraries and numerous Japanese clubs. Moreover, over 200 Japanese companies are active in that region, creating over 20,000 jobs.[131] The Japanese community is widely considered a great asset for Düsseldorf. The relations between Germany and Japan are celebrated in Düsseldorf once a year onJapan Day, which is attended by an average of half a million people. Japanese schools also exists inBerlin,Frankfurt,Hamburg andMunich and Japan has a German school inKobe andYokohama. As of 2021, the number ofJapanese residents in Germany is 42,135[132] and the number of German residents in Japan is 5,888.[133]
On 14 and 15 January 2010, German foreign ministerGuido Westerwelle conducted his personal inaugural visit to Japan, focusing the talks with his Japanese counterpart,Katsuya Okada, on both nation's bilateral relations and global issues. Westerwelle emphasized, that
We want to make our joint contribution towards ensuring that this decade is a decade of disarmament – not a decade of armament
— Guido Westerwelle about German-Japanese cooperation (15 January 2010)
and both ministers instructed their Ministries to draw up disarmament initiatives and strategies which Berlin and Tokyo can present to the international community together. Especially with regard toIran's nuclear program, it was also stressed that Japan and Germany, both technically capable of and yet refraining from possessing anyABC weapons,[134] should assume a leading role in realizing a world free of nuclear weapons and that international sanctions are considered to be an appropriate instrument of pressure. Furthermore, Westerwelle and Okada agreed to enhance cooperation in Afghanistan and to step up the stagnating bilateral trade between both countries. The visit was concluded in talks with Japan's Prime MinisterYukio Hatoyama, before which the German foreign minister visited the famousMeiji Shrine in the heart of Tokyo.[135]
In 2011, Germany and Japan celebrated 150 years of German-Japanese relations on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the treaty.[136] In Germany it was celebrated with lecture events in Berlin, among other places. TheReiss-Engelhorn Museum inMannheim also showed an exhibition. In addition, two special stamps were issued by the German and Japanese post offices for this occasion: the "Regensburg Cathedral" and the "Yakushi-ji Temple".[137][138] On the German side, the Japanese motif at 55 cents was intended for domestic traffic and the German motif at 75 cents for international traffic.[138][139]
The Japanese post office printed the motifs with the corresponding postage and even printed additional stamps with German motifs for the occasion. While the Japanese stamps have the heading "150 years of friendship between Germany and Japan" in German and Japanese, the German side limited itself to the note "UNESCO World Heritage Site".[139] A commemorative event was at theNational Museum of Japanese History inSakura in 2015, which opened an exhibition entitled "What connects Germany and Japan – 150 years of friendship between Germany and Japan". The exhibition, for which a catalog was published, was held in theMuseum of History and Culture inNagasaki, the German House inNaruto, and in other locations around Japan.[140][141]
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On Friday 11 March 2011, theTōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the most powerful knownearthquake to hit Japan at the time, and one of the fivemost powerful recorded earthquakes of which Japanese Prime MinisterNaoto Kan said, "In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan."[142] hitHonshu. The earthquake and the resultingtsunami not only devastated wide coastal areas inMiyagi Prefecture but also caused theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster triggering a widespread permanent evacuation surrounding theFukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.[143][144][145] German chancellorAngela Merkel immediately expressed her deepest sympathy to all those affected and promised Japan any assistance it would call for. As a consequence rescue specialists from theTechnisches Hilfswerk as well as a scout team of I.S.A.R. Germany (International Search and Rescue) were sent to Japan, however parts of the German personnel had to be recalled due to radiation danger near the damaged power plant.[146] Furthermore, theGerman Aerospace Center providedTerraSAR-X- andRapidEye-satellite imagery of the affected area.[147] In the days after the disaster, numerous flowers, candles and paper cranes were placed in front of the Japanese embassy in Berlin by compassionates, including leading German politicians.[148] Though never materialised, additional proposals for aid included sending special units of the GermanBundeswehr to Japan, as the German Armed Forces' decontamination equipment is among the most sophisticated in the world.[149]
On 2 April 2011, German Foreign Minister Westerwelle visited Tokyo on an Asia voyage, again offering Japan "all help, where it is needed" to recover from the tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster of the previous month. Westerwelle also emphasised the importance of making progress with a free trade agreement between Japan and theEuropean Union in order to accelerate the recovery of the Japanese economy. Together with his German counterpart, Japanese foreign ministerTakeaki Matsumoto also addressed potential new fields of cooperation between Tokyo and Berlin with respect to areform of the United Nations Security Council.[150]
According to a late 2023 Bertelsmann Foundation Poll, the Germans view Japan overwhelmingly positively, and regard that nation as less a competitor and more a partner. The Japanese views of Germany are positive as well, with 97% viewing Germany positively and only 3% viewing Germany negatively.[151]
Japan is one of the most important exporters of electronics and entertainment products for Germany, with many well-known Japanese technology companies being prominent in the German market. Germany exports mainly include luxury vehicles and other mechanical engineering services to Japan, with German automobiles being more than 70% of imported foreign cars.[152]
Japanese loanwords come mainly fromEnglish,French,Portuguese,Dutch andGerman. The cultural exchange between the two countries is promoted with over 800 bilateral university collaborations. In addition, Germans have felt a sense of affinity at the grassroots level due to common national traits such as hard work, meticulousness, and organisation. Germany is one of the most popular European travel destinations for Japanese people.[153]Japanese gardens can be found in many German cities.[154][155] There are also many other pro-German cultural figures who, although not connected to their work, have declared themselves to be German lovers or nerds, such as well-known rakugo performer Kokontei Shincho.[156]
Classical German literature, language and culture are also dealt with in Japan. For example, there are several branches of theGoethe Institute in Japan and the Goethe Archive in Tokyo.[157][158] In modern literature, many literary figures have been influenced by German literature sinceMori Ōgai, and the lineage of pro-German cultural figures continues, with people in medicine, philosophy, and economics who were strongly influenced by the German school.[159][160] This is even more noticeable in music, where Japan has greatly enjoyed German music for a long time. Although it has become somewhat more diverse in modern times, Japan is still a country with a strong ethos of worshiping German music and musicians, along withBritain andFrance.[161][162]
Even in subcultures such asanime andmanga, German characters or characters with German-like names and Germany-inspired settings often appear, and ingirls' manga, Germany is the second most frequently featured country after France. In Japan, themes from German, Austrian and Swiss literature are often taken up.[163][164] A well-known example of this isHeidi, which is why many Japanese are also familiar with theAlpine region and it is a popular tourist destination. In addition, there is a tendency for villains with Nazi motifs to often appear in action works.[165] Anime and manga form a significant part of the German animated film and comic market and show a growing fan community.[166] Both media came to Germany through the mutual media association in the 1970s and have had greater success since the 1990s. The German manga market is now the third largest market inEurope after France andItaly.[166]
In football, West Germany had a very strong influence on Japan.Dettmar Cramer, who was invited as a coach to strengthen the Japanese men's national team in preparation for the1964 Tokyo Olympics, which led Japan to the top eight at the tournament, and key players such asKunishige Kamamoto, who received his guidance, also participated. He subsequently won a bronze medal at the1968 Summer Olympics. In addition, Cramer's recommendations, such as the creation of theJapan Soccer League and the strengthening of the training age group, became the foundation of the Japanese football world, and Cramer, who was hailed as the "Father of Japanese Football," was the first recipient of the Japan Football Hall of Fame.[167]
The "Golden Plan,'' a comprehensive development plan for sports facilities drawn up by the West German government in 1960, was the envy of Japanese sports leaders, and the philosophy of "creating a comprehensive sports club rooted in the local community'' was established in 1991. It was incorporated into theJapan Professional Football League.Pierre Littbarski, who joined Jeff Ichihara as a star player in the J League's early days and was a member of the West Germany national team that won theWorld Cup in Italy, went on to build a career as a player and coach in Japan.Guido Buchwald, who won the World Cup in Italy with Littbarski, later became a player and manager for theUrawa Red Diamonds. On the other hand, sinceYasuhiko Okudera joined1.FC Köln in 1977, there have been Japanese players who have played in theBundesliga, Germany's professional football league, and many players have moved to the league in recent years. Okudera,Makoto Hasebe, andShinji Kagawa have also won the league's first division. At the2022 World Cup, the Germany national team was placed in Group E along with the Japanese national team, and played against the Japanese national team on 23 November, ending with a 2-1 victory for Japan.[168]
Japanese martial arts such askarate andjudo are also popular in Germany.[169]
ManyGerman andJapanese cities and towns are in partnership.
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